Last term we renovated our School Garden’s resident scarecrow. His new clothes and straw hat were from Helping Hands Mission Op Shop. The Grade One students created their own scarecrow stick puppets and folded theatre/gardens to play with them in during our term break. What would you name your scarecrow ?
The eleventh in our set of twelve mosaics depicting the animal signs of the Chinese zodiac was presented to our Principal, Mr Chris Sevior, at our Grade 6 Graduation on December 17th, 2015. Mrs Glenys Vella (left), taught the Grade 6 classes during 2015. She expertly organized the students in the designing, creating and completion of “The Year of the Sheep”, a wonderful addition to our collection. Each year the new mosaic is mounted on the brick wall in our school courtyard. Our two winning designers are also pictured. We congratulate Seth and Gurpreet. We look forward to seeing the design the new Grade 6 students decide upon this year for the “Year of the Monkey”. Which is your animal sign? You could find it here.
Our Grade 3 students were inspired by dressing up in colonial clothing from Melbourne Fancy Dress and Costume Hire to draw themselves, paint their picture with watercolours and then use fabric collage for the clothing. By dressing up ( over their uniforms) they gained a better appreciation of the style of clothing worn by our pioneers during the Gold Rush days. We also watched a promotional video for Sovereign Hill to refresh our memories of the time period.
Our Grade 5 students made a hessian (burlap) mask by laying a piece of glue-soaked hessian over a Plasticine mold which they created on a polystyrene tray. When these were dry they peeled off easily and they were painted using student acrylic paints. Beads, feathers etc. were added for decoration. Instead of wearing the masks, our students used patterned papers, markers, more beads, wire etc. to complete a tribal inspired collage. Which is your favourite?
During the first two weeks of Term 4 I was traveling in the USA with my husband as he prepared to run the Chicago Marathon. Among the many Art Galleries we visited was the Art Institute of Chicago where I was thrilled to see some of the world’s most famous art works. Can you find which paintings were painted by Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Vincent Van Gogh and Edgar Degas? Which is your favourite painting and why did you choose it?
This year it was 100 years since the ANZAC soldiers landed at Gallipoli, Turkey, during World War 1. Our thoughts were with soldiers and their families from all the countries involved in the conflict. Our students used mixed media to create a picture of the battle fields at Flanders (France) at the end of the war. They were particularly keen to add the brilliant red poppies which grow in the fields there and which are mentioned in the famous poem.
Our wintry weather has been the ideal time to have our Grade 3 and 5 students make creatures using woolen threads.The Grade 3 students wound pompoms and decorated them using joggle eyes, felt and beads. The older students used drinking straw looms ( we used 8 straws) to weave fabric which was folded, sewn, stuffed and decorated to create weird and wonderful creatures. These two look like they could be friends. Do you have names for them?
Our Grade 3 students used 3 sheets of newspaper, a cardboard roll, masking tape and wallpaper paste to create paper mache “Monster” puppets. The puppets were painted with water colour paints and coated with glitter paint before being dressed in bold fabrics and threads. Each will have a story to tell. I hope to publish some “Monster adventures” on this blog soon.